One of Walgreen’s most visible anti-shoplifting strategies is having unintended consequences.
Tim Wentworth, CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, the parent company of Duane Reade, acknowledged to investors during a Jan. 10 earnings call that the company’s asset protection tactic of locking merchandise to prevent retail theft has slowed sales.
“It does impact how sales work through the store because when you lock things up… you don’t sell as many of them,” he said. “We’ve kind of proven that pretty conclusively.”
The comments, first highlighted by Business Insider, came after Wentworth said the customer experience at many Walgreens stores must improve. The CEO said he had recently met with the company’s asset protection czar to discuss “creative” ways to better the in-store experience, though he added, “I don’t have anything magnificent to share with you today.”
This is not the first time Walgreens leadership has shown pause over the company’s aggressive anti-shoplifting strategies. During the equivalent earnings call in 2023, former CFO James Kehoe told analysts he thought the company had perhaps overdone it in the year prior.
A Walgreens spokesperson on Wednesday wrote to Crain’s that locking items “continues to be the most efficient solution to combat retail theft.” He said the company has been reviewing the effort’s impact on sales and is “testing and gaining insights on new solutions that enhances our ability to keep inventory secure but empowers our customers to have easier access to products.”
It’s not clear when exactly Walgreens began locking merchandise, but the practice has been increasingly common in recent years. What was once reserved to high-risk items at shoplifting-prone stores is now an unavoidable inconvenience for many customers.
Walgreens is not the only retailer with much of its merchandise behind lock and key. Companies across the industry, including CVS, Target and Walmart, have embraced the practice in recent years to combat surging retail theft. According to a December report from the National Retail Federation, retailers saw a 90% increase in dollars lost to shoplifting between 2019 and 2023.
Cracking down on that, Wentworth said, is like “hand-to-hand combat.” His admission that caging items has hurt sales suggests Walgreens may soon shift its strategy.
